Cheapo Pirates From China

I picked these up from an op shop recently along with a huge amount of accessories. At first glance they look like junk but I have already done some work with some of the ones I got previously.

The figure on top left makes an excellent English Civil War officer. He can be left bare headed or given a putty hat. The other red coats I have also made into ECW by moulding larger broad brimmed hats on to them. But wait, that those little undersized hats look like mandarin caps. properly painted they could make Chines 19th century figures. I would add charge tubes around the waists and pig tales and then paint them appropriately. The one with sword I could make into a Chinese officer. 

My Chinese project has been left simmering but here are some new ideas. I have also seen pictures of Chinese soldiers in the Sino-Japanese War armed with pikes, their jib being to protect the musket men (who had generally matchlocks or flintlocks with some lucky ones with more modern weapons. One begins to see how the Japanese won.

As for the truly pirate figures their anatomy is curious but that can be helpful as the two shorter figures will become recruits for my dwarf regiment. One has a curious pistol which looks like a cross between a revolver and a space gun. That is easily removed and replaced with a shield or second edged weapon. Or it can be left and used as a science fiction figure.

The taller figure could be a Chaos recruit or given a new head to be an orc. I'd probably remove weapons and use him on the catapults. With a putty turban he would also make a good guardsman for a sultan.

The main off puting thing about the figures is the enormous feet, not so strange if used for bestial humanoids but too large for normal humans. I will cut these down before basing the figures on suitable card.